Russell Sherman – born March 24, 1930, in Manhattan New York – was a classical music pianist as well as a teacher and author. Growing up in the Essex House hotel, he began learning the piano at the age of six. At the age of eleven, he began studying the instrument under Austrian-born pianist Eduard Steuermann. In 1945, Russell Sherman made his live debut as a pianist at New York City’s Town Hall at the age of 15. He then attended Columbia University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in humanities in 1949. After college, he studied composition under German-born composer Erich Itor Kahn. However, he took a break from live performances and moved to the West Coast and focused on a career in teaching. This new career included positions held at Pomona College in Claremont, California, and the University of Arizona before finally settling in Boston, Massachusetts and teaching at the New England Conservatory for over 50 years. He did resume his performing career in the mid 1970s and released albums including Liszt: Transcendental Etudes (Complete), Dante Sonata, Les Jeux D'Eaux A La Villa D'Este (1976), Beethoven Sonatas (1978), Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos - Bagatelles, Op. 119 (1986), Franz Schubert (1993), Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas (2000), and Chopin: The Mazurkas (2012). He was also a strong supporter of composer Franz Liszt’s work and devoted much of his career to promote Liszt as a serious composer including recording albums such as Liszt: Masterpieces for Solo Piano, Vol. 2 (2004). Russell Sherman died at home in Lexington, Massachusetts on September 30, 2023, at the age of 93.
